would cameras make you feel more comfortable during a traffic stop? the oakland police department is looking at getting cameras on their uniforms. i'm christie smith. we'll have that story straight ahead. and today is the first full day of freedom in more than a year for berkeley hiker sarah shourd. what's next for her two friends left behind. it's wednesday, september 15th, "today in the bay." good morning, everyone. it's 4:30. let's get started with a look at the forecast from meteorologist

rob mayeta. >> 52 degrees in oakland right now, 58, northwest wind at 10. we're going to see big changes coming up the next few days. not so much today, just high clouds, but big changes showing up in your seven-day forecast. your east bay forecast, dublin 78 degrees, richmond 70. as we head into contra costa county, 80s around concord and san ramon. pittsburg 82 degrees. here the changes in your seven-day forecast. keep the umbrella on stand by for the north bay on friday and for the rest of the bay area, believe it or not, saturday into sunday. but the story of the morning in terms of the weather is some of that thick fog. >> you're talking maybe especially along the coast but the north bay and the santa cruz mountains. this is in the east bay, hayward, the northbound side at the highway 92 connector ramp, there was an earlier accident reportedly closing down that connector ramp. there may still be activity there. just to be on the safe side if

you're heading towards the san mateo bridge, get off at tennison. a little further north more construction right pie the coliseum. that's the high street on and off-ramp from southbound 880. they will have construction there over the course of the day but the on-ramp is reportedly closed. a live shot shows you construction lights we saw a couple of days ago are not there and it does look like folks are getting on high street. the nimitz freeway always has a number of cars. the east bay the first to pick up the commute. new information on the release of uc berkeley grad sarah shourd. we learned overnight she will leave for dubai in the next few hours. she was freed from an iranian prison just about this time tuesday and arrived in the country of oman.

diplomats in oman and switzerland negotiated her release. the developments cap off a 14-month ordeal that began when she, her fiance shane bauer, and their friend, josh fattal, allegedly crossed the border before iran from iraq while on a hike. yesterday she was met by her mother and uncle when she stepped off the jet. pale and thin, she expressed her gratitude. >> i want to offer my thanks to everyone in the world. all of the governments, all of the people that have been involved and especially want to address president mahmoud ahmadinejad and thank them for this humanitarian gesture. >> she is appealing for the release of shane and josh. josh's mother says while she's overjoyed about shourd's release, her son and shane also deserve to come home. >> very happy, but it was very bittersweet because i want to have that same happiness and i know cindy does too. we want josh and shane home as

soon as possible. >> the two men are charged with espionage and will be forced to stand trial in iran. governor arnold schwarzenegger today will get a firsthand look at the devastation from the massive san bruno fire. he'll get a broiefing on recovey efforts and tour the damage at 2:45 this afternoon. the gas line rupture last thursday fueled a roaring fire so intense it cracked the windshield of the closest fire engines. four died, many injured, several blocks of homes were blaus. now, the blast impact is rippling all the way to the north way. neighbors in petaluma rallying around one neighbor. bill arnold's wife, sandy, in an induced coma at st. francis memorial in san francisco. her sister and brother-in-law also at the hospital. all three are suffering burns over half their body. now, their mother, 81-year-old elizabeth torres, died in the explosion. >> it just is so hard to believe, you know, when things

happen you feel terrible. but you never think it's going to be somebody that you're so close to or that you know. >> pg&e says it will be looking into whether they received a call from torres. her family claims she called pg&e because she smelled gas. they say she was waiting for them to come out when the explosion happened. now, the ntsb says it so far has no evidence of anyone calling and reporting gas. survivors tell us they are grateful to be alive but have not yet come to grips with the traumatic incident. for the first time yesterday people who lost everything got a chance to sift through the ashes of their homes. wearing white safety suits, they searched for mementos that would remind them of the life they had before the blast. neighbors searched the rubble and betty and her husband packed up keepsakes. eight months pregnant, betty grabbed her kids and ran to safety last week. she said her children are still afraid. >> sometimes it's heart-breaking

because my 3-year-old keeps on praying for our safety every night. she said if i don't pray for our safety, the fire might come back. >> things will not begin to see normal for the kids for some time. their house is still standing, but badly damaged. many victims say the neighborhood will never feel the same and some say they are afraid to rebuild. and we have continuing coverage of the san bruno explosion on nbcbayarea.com, including links to more than an hour's worth of dispatch calls from that day. new this morning, oakland's police force will have a new set of electronic eyes. this move comes in response to community cries over police misconduct. today in the bay's christie smith is live at police headquarters with more detail. >> reporter: good morning to you. we're talking about cameras that clip right onto an officer's uniform and can record everything. oakland police have been testing out about 15 of these cameras over the summer and really like

what they see. the police chief believes that this will improve officers' safety here in oakland but also customer service, particularly in neighborhood where there's apprehension about police. san jose police are already using a similar system. the idea here is to reduce the number of police misconduct complaints by recording video and sound. if an issue comes up, you can go back and review the tape of the each of the units has a hard drive that's downloaded at the end of the day and these will replace the car cameras that police have now but apparently were a bust and didn't work very well. so the oakland police department wants to purchase about 350 of these cameras and will be asking the city council to fund this to the tune of about $540,000, which may seem a little curious on the surface, considering they just laid off dozens of officers here in the department. but apparently the council will be able to get some federal funding to help pay for it. the council expected to vote on whether they're going to approve

this or not by the end of the month. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, today in the east bay. >> all right, thank you. more tests under way to determine if human remains found in yosemite national park might be those of a livermore man who was last seen seven years ago. he was on a hiking trip by himself in 2003 but the 43-year-old never returned home. he was an experienced outdoorsman and backpacker. the forest ranger found the remains on september 4th. good morning, how are you? >> i'm doing well. right here next to you. well, virtually next to you. we'll tell you about a new accident in the same area i told you about the first incident, hayward. we'll show you the first incident, northbound 880 at westbound 92. the update sounds like the connector ramp is scheduled to be closed until 5:00 a.m. in the aftermath of an accident. no injuries, no ambulance on

scene, just a little clearing that has to go on so keep that in mind. again, the new accident i've marked at the top of the screen, northbound 880 or very close to folks coming off of the castro valley y, there may be another accident there. no word of any lanes blocked but we're following this very carefully as well. hayward is a tough commute any time of day and a problem early could cause a ripple effect across the east bay. also early slowing coming westbound with yellow skbe cates speeds below 50 miles an hour out of the altamont pass. that's very unusual for this amount of slowing to go on but those sensors tend to wake up as a burst of traffic comes through so this might be the start of the commute. but no incidents for that area. we'll follow 580 carefully because no one likes anything happening over there. rob, i was cleaning out my car yesterday and i think i had six umbrellas in there.

i should probably keep one in there. >> you might be able to sell the other five. that might be a good marketing plan. >> people who are less prepared or less sloppy. >> that's right. other folks are unprepared the rest of the week and don't have six umbrellas in the car, the reason why we need changes tower wardrobe or needing the umbrella is what's coming up later this week and for the weekend. look at that, a chance of showers showing up in the north bay friday. but between now and then we have gorgeous weather around the east bay showing up over the next couple of afternoons. air quality just fine. that's a sign of a good sea breeze keeping our temperatures fairly mild. we do have some fog and misty skies around the bay area this morning. notice the temperatures around livermore, low 80s today. that's one of the warmer spots around the bay area today. tomorrow the same story but look at friday, chance of north bay showers and you may need one umbrella, not five or six. saturday and sunday cooldown and, yes, showers in the forecast. >> to each his own, rob. time to say goodbye to

reading your favorite newspaper on your ipad. plus a twitter transformation. how the popular social networking site is restedesigni itself. and improvement to east bay schools. one school board reveals how it tompplesusp .evitmpus.

good morning to you. it's, what is its, 4:43 in the

morning. expected highs in oakland 70 degrees, a full 10 degrees higher in vallejo, fairfield 83. new this morning, the mt. diablo school board has a clear picture how it's going to spend money for improvement. they approved a seven-year construction schedule for spending $348 million in measure c money. the top priority is solar projects at 51 sites. they should begin in january. the board will hold a special meeting tomorrow night to talk about the companies vying for the solar contract. money will also go towards building internet connections in classrooms starting in may 2011 and installing air conditioning at schools. also new this morning, oakland school leaders and mayoral candidate don prada will be taking on truancy. with 4,000 true and tant studen oakland school district loses

out on money each year. they are more vulnerable to teen pregnancy and crime. as you see there, a prayer breakfast starts at 8:00 this morning at z cafe in oakland on broadway. a large housing development is closer to become closer to reality. oakley city council zoning 40 acres for a planned housing and commercial development. this project will include more than 500 single family homes and 24 acres for commercial use. the developer plans to subdivide the area into five neighborhoods and build a park. police officers in the east bay will be biking their way to san francisco this morning to raise money for families in need. now, this is video from a few years ago. it's the 27th annual turkey ride this time kicks off this morning. officers will travel more than 210 miles in three days. the ride raises money to buy food for berkeley families in need during the november and

december holiday seasons. so, mike, be very careful of officers on bikes this morning. >> i'm glad officers on bikes -- when i first hear about that, i'm like why would a turkey be riding a bike. >> we'd get video of that for sure. >> turkeys on the side of the road, that's often the case up in the north bay. right now we're looking at the east bay. there were mixed reports talking about 880 and 238 and also heading down towards mission boulevard. now, mission is the name of the street heading up through hayward, but it is this mission coming down through fremont, the connector from 680 over to 880 where the accident occurred at an off-ramp. either northbound or southbound. still those reports straightening themselves out but it is not affecting any lanes. if you're using the mission boulevard exit just plan a little activity off the shoulder of that off-ramp. the speeds through the area are very clear right now. we'll move you further up to that earlier incident. we told you about westbound 92 off of 880. that connector ramp is clear and

should be clear sailing over the san mateo bridge which is moving really nicely right now. good stuff. >> thank you, mike. we'll turn to rob mayeda and today in the bay weather. >> good morning. pretty nice search of the morning low you may run into patchy clouds and fog. 58 right now, 55 in concord and, yes, we've got a good, strong sea breeze blowing into fairfield this morning. that will en sure our temperatures will be pretty mild. very active pattern for september standards with the jetstream just to the north. this is going to drop southward beginning friday and with it, yes, even a chance of seeing some showers for the bay area. not today, though. 78 in dublin, 82 livermore, 76 for moraga. 82 in concord, 83 in fairfield, 78 for san ramon. across the east bay looking nice today and tomorrow. friday a chance of north bay showers. moving through the rest of the bay area, believe it or not, saturday night into sunday,

cooler temperatures this weekend as well. >> all right, rob, thanks. chase bank had all kinds of problems with accounts over the last 24 hours. cnbc's courtney reagan joins us with that. back to normal this morning? >> reporter: yeah, everything looks to be back to working order this morning, which makes millions of customers very, very happy. futures are a little bit lower today after wall street broke its four-day win streak tuesday. despite these better-than-expected numbers we got on retail sales as well as good earnings from best buy. rumors the fed may be considering more steps to boost the economy weighed on the dollar which also pushed people in gold. that's what we call the fear trade and it is more than $24 an ounce. asian markets were higher overnight. europe is lower. we'll get data on import prices and industrial production. still ahead the dow is down 17 points tuesday so trading begins at 10,526. the nasdaq edged up 4 points to

2289. now, more on that story about chase bank. jpmorgan customers should be able to log into their online banking accounts today. jpmorgan or chase.com, which is a consumer arm, was down all day on tuesday leaving millions of people without access to their banking accounts or credit cards or any other kind of consumer funds that deal with chase bank. now, jpmorgan says the issue was technical and not hackers so don't worry, none of your information got into the wrong hands. it came as the ceo was touting a new iphone app that lets people deposit checks from their phones. he did apologize for the system shutdown, but all back to working order today. pack to you, scott. >> thank you. get ready for major tweaks to twitter. the company said it hopes to change 160 million users check out photos and videos, all the while, while getting them to linger a little more on the site. so you see the two website panes

there. on one side you see your tweets, the other images, video and links. twitter says the major change to the twitter experience will be felt worldwide soon. get ready to pay for newspaper access on your ipad. apple expected to announce a subscription plan for newspapers soon. the goal for the papers is to tap into the tablet market, recrate a new revenue stream. it's expected apple will take 30% of the subscription price and an even bigger piece of any advertising revenue sdplchbt. meanwhile here in the u.s., voters in seven states went to the polls to vote in primaries. today in the bay's tracie potts has results from washington, d.c. >> don't ever underestimate the power of we, the people. >> reporter: the tea party favorite who republicans said couldn't be elected dog catcher won the party's senate nomination in delaware. and in new york, political

newcomer carl paladino overcame his challenger's 40-point lead to become the republican candidate for governor. >> if we've learned anything tonight, it's that new yorkers are as mad as hell. >> reporter: he'll take on democrat andrew cuomo. also in new york, 40-year veteran charlie rangel beat five other democrats and a dozen ethics charges in his bid to stay in washington. >> no matter what they say, i go back to washington stronger than i've ever been. >> reporter: in all, five states chose senate nominees and six more named candidates for governor. democrats are hoping to hold on to their majority. >> i'm not yielding one grain of sa sand. >> reporter: in d.c.'s mayor race vince gray led mayor fenty. >> tonight the district people said they want to bring character, integrity and leadership back to the mayor's

office. >> reporter: and that may be the final word. there's no republican running against him this fall. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. now with a look at what's coming up later today in the bay's brent cannon. >> reporter: we're working on getting new investigation from san bruno. investigators will be back at the scene before sunup and we're ready. we'll bring you the story of a pg&e whistleblower. we'll tell you when he sounded warning alarms about the area. high-speed rail plan is on its way to the south bay. we'll look at where and when. plus we are tracking the movement of newly freed berkeley hiker sarah shourd. i know you've been following that as well, scott. we'll have reports from around the world coming up later on, on "today in the bay." the a's are going to try to bounce back from a very bad day at the office. they take the royals on again today at 5:00 in kansas city. gio gonzalez had his worst outing of the season and made it through two innings.

he gave up seven runs, seven hits. royals win 11-3. the giants are a game and a half out of the playoffs behind the padres in the nl west and in the same spot behind the braves in the wild card race. last night this costly error led to a loss against the dodgers. dodgers reed johnson scored and that is the only run of the game. dodgers win 1-0. another painful loss for barry zito as well. giants lose a full game on the padres. they beat the rockies again in colorado. padres made a late comeback to win 7-6. that's the padres and the rockies. here's a trivia question for you this morning. who is the 2005 heisman trophy winner? the answer, nobody. that's because former usc running back reggie bush says he's giving back the award. investigators found that bush

accepted improper benefits while he was at the school. a decision will be made about whether or not to award the trophy to the runner-up, vince young. new this morning, oakland police will soon be armed with new technology, an electronic set of eyes meant to catch officers behaving badly. today in the bay's christie smith live at police headquarters. it comes in response to a lot of cries over police misconduct. >> reporter: that's right. there have been a lot of complaints and some lawsuits. the police chief thinks having these cameras will improve officers' safety but also cost me service out in the streets. other police departments have been using a similar system and say really when you have these cameras out there it keeps everyone on their best behavior, especially if they know that they're being recorded. the san jose police is already using a similar system now and oakland has been testing out 15 of these clip-on video units that clip right on to an officer's uniform and record

video and sound. the data is downloaded daily. when an issue comes up, they go back and review the tape. the union city police had an incident where a guy was complaining about police rudeness. police reviewed the tape and found it was actually the accuser who was swearing at police. they showed him the video and he just said never mind and dropped the whole thing. so some privacy rights groups, though, are concerned that the whole interaction with police might not be recorded and they want to make sure that it is from the very start. still opd wants about 350 of these cameras. they're going to be asking the city council for about $540,000 to pay for it all. apparently there's a little federal funding to help out. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, today in the east bay. >> thank you. rob mayeda again. good morning, rob. >> we have some low clouds and patchy fog in and around the east bay this morning, even out

in the altamont pass you'll find that for your morning drive. 80s inland but stay tuned, friday and into the weekend we'll see big changes around the bay area in terms of your forecast. today good air quality for your outdoor plans. if you're outdoor biking, the weather will be great for that both temperaturewise and air qualitywise. the satellite view shows you a hint at changes to come not owe such today or tomorrow but beginning friday. you'll see those changes showing up in your seven-day forecast. lunchtime we'll get sunshine breaking out inland, east bay locations including livermore, pleasanton. highs in the low 80s today and tomorrow. friday for the north bay a chance of some showers. our best bet of seeing bay area showers arrives unfortunately for the middle part of the weekend. saturday even into early sunday and trying to get a little warmer monday and tuesday of next week. back to you. they outran the flames, can't escape the trauma. just ahead, the survivors of san bruno. where they were and how they returned home to the ashes. plus the whooping cough epidemic expands.

the latest death happened in california. and a new drug to phyfight ght obesity could hit the market while another could be yanked.

heart disease kills one woman every minute. we can chae the statistic by choosing to speak up for our hearts. take control of your heart health and encourage others to do the same. take the go red heart check up. find out your ten year risk for heart disease or stroke learn how to make small simple changes to reduce your risk and change your life. speak up to save lives. log on to goredforwomen.org find out how you can prevent heart disease. sarah shourd is reunited with her mother. we will tell you where the released hiker is now. safety concerns about pg&e gas pipelines before the explosion here in san bruno. i'm bob redell. we'll tell you what one pg&e employee tells us what happened to him